The actor Christopher Reeve,
paralysed seven years ago in a riding accident, says he could have been close to
walking again today were it not for the Bush administration’s capitulation to
the Catholic church over cloning, and profiteering by the US pharmaceutical
industry.
…”There are religious groups – the Jehovah’s Witnesses, I
believe – who think it’s a sin to have a blood transfusion. Well, what if the
president for some reason decided to listen to them, instead of to the
Catholics, which is the group he really listens to in making his decisions about
embryonic stem cell research?” Reeve says. “Where would we be with blood
transfusions?” Full
article
I am sympathetic to Christopher Reeves and his family
because of what happened to him from his accident, but he is really misdirecting
his anger. I wish that President Bush really did follow the Catholic Church’s
position on stem-cell and not the Solomon-like decision that he made. His
argument that compares blood transfusions with banning of embryonic stem cell
research is totally mistaken. There is a gigantic difference between the
Jehovah’s Witnesses misreading of the Bible and the reasoned approach of the
Church on embryonic stem-cell research. It really saddens me when someone
decides that someone else must die so that they might live better. Mr. Reeves
more than likely does not believe in life at conception and probably does not
understand what his demands really entail. He also must have really great faith
in science to believe that the government and the Church are the only thing that
prevents him from being healed. I know that I will be praying tonight for Mr.
Reeves and those like him who are so entrenched in the culture of death that
they may realize the humanity and awesome dignity of those who they would
sacrifice.
